In modern-day communication environments, which include digital subscriber line (DSL) systems, particular services often require a field technician to physically monitor a communication line from a fixed location. For example, in order to verify a DSL port, a field technician usually connects test equipment to the line and reads signals from the line using the test equipment. One example of this is shown in FIG. 1.
As shown in FIG. 1, the communication environment includes a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 160, a cellular network 134, and the Internet 122, which are communicatively coupled to each other. Additionally, the communication environment includes a central office 106, which has a switch 108 and a DSL access multiplexer (DSLAM) 112, which are configured to provide DSL services to customers. The switch 108 is coupled to the PSTN 160 through a communication line 124, thereby permitting communications between the PSTN 160 and the central office 106. Since communications between the cellular network 134, the PSTN 160, and the Internet 122 are known in the art, only an abridged discussion is provided below.
A customer location 162, which may be a home, may include both a plain old telephone system (POTS) telephone 158 and a DSL modem 154, thereby permitting both DSL communications and standard telephone services to the customer location 162. A splitter 104 couples the customer location 162 to a line 114, which is coupled to the DSLAM 112, which, in turn is coupled to the switch 108. The DSLAM 112 communicatively couples the central office 106 with an Internet service provider 118, thereby permitting access to the Internet 122 for the DSL customers.
While the splitter 104 is shown as a functional block located within the home, it should be appreciated that the splitter 104 may also represent one or more components within the home that properly route the DSL signals and the POTS signals to their respective endpoints (e.g., DSL modem, POTS phone, analog fax machine, etc.). In other implementations, the splitter may represent one or more components located outside of the home, which routes the DSL signals and POTS signals to their respective endpoints. In this regard, it should be appreciated that the splitter 104 may represent the various components used to route the DSL and POTS signals to and from the home and, also, to route DSL and POTS signals to and from the CO. Since many of these configurations are known in the art, further discussion of the splitter 104 is omitted here.
In such an environment, if verification of a DSL port is desired, then a field technician 102 is typically deployed to the customer location 162. Upon arriving at the customer location, the field technician 102 connects test equipment to the appropriate line components and calls a support technician at a DSL support group 140 for assistance in verifying the DSL port. This call may be placed using a cellular telephone (as shown in FIG. 1) or using a standard POTS phone. In either event, upon reaching a support technician, the field technician typically relays the field request (e.g., port verification request) to the support technician. The support technician then enters the request to a network management system (NMS) 144a, which is accessible by the DSL support group 140 through a user interface, such as, for example, Java™ Broadband Operating System (JBBOS) 212a. The NMS 144a, in turn, accesses the relevant information from an element database 164 and, with the accessed information, affects an element manager 148 to generate a command to the DSLAM 112. In response to the command, the DSLAM 112 cycles a signal on the line that is detectable by the field technician's test equipment.
As shown from the example of FIG. 1, the proper monitoring of a communication line often requires two technicians (both the support technician and the field technician), thereby occupying the time and resources associated with both technicians. This often results in an inefficient use of time and resources, especially if a routine test is being performed on the line.
In view of this inefficiency, a heretofore-unaddressed need exists.